Let Americans Buy the Government’s Gold at $42.22 per Ounce

Everybody has a scheme for reducing the federal deficit. Here is my plan.

Because the present value of the unfunded liabilities of Social Security and Medicare is now in excess of $200 trillion, there is nothing relevant that could be done by the federal government to increase revenues sufficient to avoid the great default. In short, forget about it. There is going to be a great default.

I would like to take steps today to reduce my vulnerability to the great default. I think you should, too. So, here is my plan.

The U.S. government can sell assets. The assets that I would like to see it sell, above all other assets, are its gold holdings.

This gold was confiscated from the American people by Franklin Roosevelt in 1933, and the American people ought to have a right to get back these confiscated gold coins.

I want to see the United States Mint take all of the gold holdings of the federal government, which are stored mainly by the privately owned Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and convert the gold into quarter-ounce American Gold Eagle coins. This would involve an increase in the size of the Mint, but that would be a reasonable expense. It can be paid for by the sale of the gold coins.

The federal government maintains the illusion that this gold is valued at $42.22 an ounce, so I believe that the federal government should be compelled to sell this gold back to American citizens in the form of quarter-ounce gold coins. The price of these gold coins will be $42.22 per ounce, plus a small minting fee. At $42.22 per ounce, a quarter-ounce gold coin should cost about $10.55, plus minting, postage, and handling. Let’s say $15 per coin.

At $1100 an ounce, one of these coins would sell for about $275, plus a minting fee, or somewhere in the range of $300.

I ask you: would you spend $15 to buy a gold coin that is worth $300? I know I would.

Only American citizens who have reached the age of 18 years old will be allowed to buy these quarter-ounce gold American Eagle coins.

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